Gov. Abbott weighs in — critically but not all that clearly — on ‘sanctuary campus’ movement

Did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott open a new front in the “sanctuary” places debate with a tweet in which he pledged to cut funding for any state campus that establishes such status? Hard to say.

Here’s what the governor posted to Twitter on Thursday:

“Texas will not tolerate sanctuary campuses or cities. I will cut funding for any state campus if it establishes sanctuary status.”

Neither Abbott nor his office defined sanctuary status or explained exactly how he would cut funding.

He presumably was responding to petitions circulating in Texas and elsewhere in support of students who entered the country without legal authorization. The petitions are fueled by the election of Donald Trump, who said during his campaign for the White House that he would do away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA, a signature initiative of President Barack Obama that gives young people temporary protection from deportation as well as permission to work.

More than 1,000 faculty members, students, staff members and alumni have signed an online petition calling on Texas State University administrators to “immediately establish our academic institution as a sanctuary campus.” Earlier this week, Texas State President Denise Trauth said she was reviewing the matter to determine the university’s role, adding that she is “staunchly committed to our core values that include diversity, equality, and inclusion.”

An online petition calling on administrators to establish the University of Texas as a sanctuary campus has more than 2,000 supporters. UT President Gregory L. Fenves told student leaders Thursday that the university has no legal authority to become a sanctuary campus but noted that he has signed a letter supporting DACA, as have more than 400 other leaders of colleges and universities, including UT System Chancellor Bill McRaven.

“We protect all student information” under the federal student privacy law, Fenves told student leaders, according to an article in the Daily Texan. “That is all information including immigration status, so that information is not available without going through a legal process.”

Any public university president in Texas likely would incur wrath from Abbott and some Republican leaders in the Legislature if he or she went as far as Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League school.

“The University of Pennsylvania will not allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/Customs and Border Protection (CBP)/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on our campus unless required by warrant,” Gutmann said in a message to the university community this week.

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